A spread of enriching stories and anecdotes on leadership, success, motivation, and winning. Food for thought - to motivate you and your team to rise to your peak potential.
Stories help drive home the point far better than just theories and concepts. In The Salad Bar, I am attempting to put together those stories in one place. If you have an interesting tale, send that in too. Help make the Salad Bar better.
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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

A Tale of Two Seas

Sitting in the Geography class in school, I remember how fascinated I was when we were being taught all about the Dead Sea.

As you probably recall, the Dead Sea is really a Lake, not a sea (and as my Geography teacher pointed out, if you understood that, it would guarantee 4 marks in the term paper!)

It’s so high in salt content that the human body can float easily. You can almost lie down and read a book! The salt in the Dead Sea is as high as 35% - almost 10 times the normal ocean water. And all that saltiness has meant that there is no life at all in the Dead Sea. No fish. No vegetation. No sea animals. Nothing lives in the Dead sea.

And hence the name: Dead Sea.

While the Dead Sea has remained etched in my memory, I don’t seem to recall learning about the Sea of Galilee in my school Geography lesson. So when I heard about the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea – and the tale of the two seas - I was intrigued.

Turns out that the Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea receive their water from river Jordan. And yet, they are very, very different.

Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is pretty, resplendent with rich, colourful marine life. There are lots of plants. And lots of fish too. In fact, the sea of Galilee is home to over twenty different types of fishes.

Same region, same source of water, and yet while one sea is full of life, the other is dead. How come?

Here’s apparently why. The River Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee and then flows out. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee – in and then out - and that keeps the Sea healthy and vibrant, teeming with marine life.

But the Dead Sea is so far below the mean sea level, that it has no outlet. Thewater flows in from the river Jordan, but does not flow out. There are no outlet streams. It is estimated that over 7 million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea every day. Leaving it salty. Too full of minerals. And unfit for any marine life.

The Dead Sea takes water from the River Jordan, and holds it. It does not give. Result? No life at all.

Think about it.

And as we start a new year – nay, a new decade, maybe useful to learn a lesson or two from the tale of the two Seas.

Life is not just about getting. It’s about giving. We all need to be a bit like the Sea of Galilee.

We are fortunate to get wealth, knowledge, love and respect. But if we don’t learn to give, we could all end up like the Dead Sea. The love and the respect, the wealth and the knowledge could all evaporate. Like the water in the Dead Sea.

If we get the Dead Sea mentality of merely taking in more – more water, more money, more everything – the results can be disastrous. Good idea to make sure that in the sea of your own life, you have outlets. Many outlets. For love and wealth - and everything else that you get in your life. Make sure you don’t just get, you give too.

14 comments:

ananth iyer
said...

Sir,It is nice to read your blog, this one has come after a long time.What a thought you have discussed.Yes we ought to share our Wealth, ideas, things with others only then we derive happiness.It reminds me of another example that only when we empty our mail box we can receive fresh ones else there would be no inputs possible.Also it is said that only by unlearning what one has learnt in the past, can we learn new things.The best way to learn things is to teach others give our knowledge to others, good leaders teach others by interacting with others they also derive knowledge, new ideas.Looking forward for more blogs from you.

Your writings not only inspires me but the thoughts that you put behind the blogs are completely awesome...i had no clue about either the Dead sea (had heard vaguely or read about it) but not with such insight as to why is it a Dead Sea or for that matter even the Sea of Galilee (never knew or heard about this)...this piece of information that you have shared "Have truly imbibed an update on my existing knowledge"

Every blog of yours only propels me to do some more self introspection & how best i can try to live upto it personally or professionally.

Completely agree with you that there is tremendous happiness that one derives by giving/sharing with others in whatever best way, one can....

Not sure if i can draw a parallel here but recently i was going through the website of "United Way of Mumbai" and they mentioned that they need 1000 old discarded PC's but over months have only managed to gather 68.....i keep wondering looking at my own office and imagining others.....so many PC's are discarded or sold at scrap rates, which would be insignicant "other income" on a P&L...why dosen't it come naturally to us to just "give" to the less privileged?

So true Prakash.....it is not just the recieving and acquiring which gives us true happiness ....it is the sharing and giving, I believe ,which enriches our relationships and friendships and makes us realise how much we can learn from one another....

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About Me

I believe everyone has greatness inside of them. And we all owe it to ourselves to rise to our peak potential. There are a few quotes that probably sum up my thinking. "If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you're right." "If it's to be, it's up to me." "It's never too late to become what you might have been." "Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." "On your deathbed, you could be saying one of two things. I wish I had. Or... I am glad I did." "You don't win a silver. You only lose the gold." "Leaders create leaders. Not followers."